Patients and Safety Experts Pick Mercy

October 24, 2013

Mercy Hospital Springfield Gets Additional Accolades

Whether you ask patients or safety experts, their choice for high quality care is Mercy Hospital Springfield. This week, Modern Healthcare Magazine announced Mercy Hospital Springfield has won the 2013/2014 Consumer Choice Award from National Research Corporation. In addition, the fall 2013 update to the Hospital Safety Score shows Mercy Hospital Springfield has earned the only “A” grade in Springfield for how well it protects patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections.

For the Consumer Choice Award, National Research Corporation surveyed more than 270,000 households in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. Researchers asked patients multiple questions about which hospitals they felt had the highest quality health care. They asked about best overall quality, best image and reputation, best doctors and best nurses. The survey is the largest one focusing on consumer thoughts about health care in the U.S.

“We are thrilled to offer this annual award because we understand how important the role of reputation plays in healthcare consumer decision-making,” said Susan L. Henricks, president and CEO at National Research. “These winners have done an outstanding job of representing their organizations in terms of high quality care, improvement initiatives, and positive consumer perceptions and experiences. The consumers have spoken. And we congratulate the winning hospitals in receiving this honor.”

This is the tenth year Mercy Hospital Springfield has received the Consumer Choice Award. “This is one of those accolades that means so much because it comes directly from our patients here at home,” said Dr. Robert W. Steele, president of Mercy Hospital Springfield. “It means they’ve been able to count on our outstanding co-workers at some crucial moments in their lives, and we’ve delivered for their families.”

The Hospital Safety Score is compiled under the guidance of the Leapfrog Group, an independent industry watchdog. The score is designed to give the public information they can use to protect themselves and their families.

“As patients begin to take a more active role in selecting where to receive health care, it has never been more important to focus on hospital safety and transparency. The ‘A’ hospitals, including Mercy Hospital Springfield, are helping us to raise the standards of health care nationwide,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog. “We offer our congratulations and hope the hospital will continue to strive for an ever-increasing level of excellence in patient safety.”